Shakespeare Interview

  

 

What inspired you, William Shakespeare, a renowned English poet, playwright, and actor to get into literature?

 When I was 14, I went with my family to watch a play. The play’s genre was a romantic comedy and I could hear almost everyone in the theatre laughing and was in awe of the couple. Everyone praised the writer after the play, and I realized that I wanted to be praised for my writing and acting too. I got my ideas from the politics of the court and what people on the street were talking about. But mostly I got inspired by watching plays and reading stories.

 

 What was your favorite play?

 I would say, Hamlet. The story of Hamlet is about the ghost of the King of Denmark tells my son Hamlet to avenge his murder by killing the new king, Hamlet's uncle. It feigns madness, contemplates life and death, and seeks revenge. His uncle, fearing for his life, also devises plots to kill Hamlet. I think this was my personal favorite because my only son died of an unknown illness, which is why I relate to this story. His name was Hamnet, may he rest in peace. You can see the relation between the 2 names.

 

 How do you think you started gaining popularity?

 I became famous in the same way that many writers today have become famous. I went to London and began selling, producing, and performing in plays. My plays were discussed and often parodied in the media of the time period.

 

How did you manage to invent so many new words? English, as a language, owes a great debt to you.

 It was quite easy, once I got the hang of it. I needed words to convey a sense, but none of the variations of a word that I was familiar with fit right; it was important to me to have a certain number of syllables to fit the meter requirements of a line. So, I invented over 1700 of by changing nouns into verbs, changing verbs into adjectives, connecting words never before used together

 

When were your first plays written, and what genres were they about?

 I think I started writing my first few plays before or around 1592, they encompass all three of the main dramatic genres in the bard’s oeuvre: tragedy (“Titus Andronicus”); comedy (“The Two Gentlemen of Verona,” “The Comedy of Errors” and “The Taming of the Shrew”); and history (the “Henry VI” trilogy and “Richard III”).

 

What inspired you to write such a romantic tragedy? Your play, Romeo and Juliet, is one of the plays that are still known. Children learn about it in their studies and many authors use that play as an inspiration for their writing.

 My principal source for the plot was The Tragicall History of Romeus and Juliet (1562), a long narrative poem by the English poet Arthur Brooke, who had based his poem on a French translation of a tale by the Italian Matteo Bandello. So based on that I set the scene in Verona, Italy.

Well, I wanted couples to appreciate their love together. People complain about how they face problems that ruin their relationships that force them to separate from each other. So I wrote Romeo and Juliet to explain the worst possible situation that lovers can find themselves in. I think this helps people understand to find the good in the bad, as the story shows their love first and then how they fought to be together, even if they weren't together in this life.

 

Mr. William, you started your career as an actor and performed many shows on the London stage. Why did you start writing your novels and plays instead of continuing your successful acting career?

 I was inspired by my mentors who were also the directors of my plays. I started writing a few short plays and showed them. They guided me by pointing out my mistakes and teaching me different ways to correct them. Finally, in 1594 I officially began writing plays for a troupe known as the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. Ultimately I became its house playwright and partnered with other members to establish the legendary Globe theater in 1599.

 

Your great well-known career with plays, novels, and acting also included poems. One of your most famous ones is Venus and Adonis. What was your inspiration to write this?

 I published my first narrative poem—the erotic “Venus and Adonis,” intriguingly dedicated to my close friend Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton—while London theaters were closed due to a plague outbreak in 1593.

 

Knowing that you were a married man and a father of 3, how were you able to manage your time with writing and acting?

 It was not that bad, I did take a break from writing for 7 years, but then my son passed away. It was quite a depressing period for me and to keep my mind off the grief I started I wrote my most famed comedies, including Much Ado About Nothing and The Merry Wives of Windsor. However, there was a dramatic shift in tone toward the end of the 1590s. In 1599, just three years after my son's death, I wrote Henry V and Julius Caesar. So I guess I could say that I wrote to keep away from the grief and it was not that hard to manage time for my family.

 

 How did you feel as you heard that your sonnets had been leaked to the public?

 I got a lot of fame with my collection of sonnets which address themes ranging from love and sensuality to truth and beauty, which was printed in 1609, which was without my consent. It was only intended for my intimate circle, not the general public. Perhaps because of their explicit sexual references or dark emotional character, the sonnets did not enjoy the same success as my earlier lyrical works. , 

~  Satya, Rhea and Vandana -  I0 I